I Don’t Want To Miss A Thing…and two Fall Favorites you may not want to miss.

I am terrible with endings.

I strongly dislike “goodbyes” and “chapters closing.”

I struggle a little with the finality of “OVER-ness.”

Not a word, I know.

And at every tail end of August, I always feel a little teary and weary that my favorite season is coming to an end.

But?

In the past I have allowed myself to join in on the dance to the soundtrack of my community and friends who have shared year after year their sentiments that they had had a “good Summer” but were “ready to get back into a routine.”

Enter Fall.

So with my salty tears I would join into the song of the voices around me, singing their excited “back to school” cheer and dance to the cha-cha down the aisles of Target for all the things.

But as we know…everything about this year…is different.

So, how I am feeling now?

Coupling the end of my favorite season sorrows and not having the sounds of school supplies and rhythm of routine to call me onto the dance floor?

Well lets just say…this week I have been feeling a little discombobulated. While we are in a week of “reset mode” from the beach and coming back home, along with our kitchen being torn apart and very much “under construction.” (more on that coming)

I also feel like…I am “under construction.”

In fact, while making my way to the printer aisle of Target this week, I subconsciously found myself grazing through the school supply section and suddenly…

I felt my throat clench…

and then I felt my eyes become weak…

and then I felt my stomach sink…

and just as I was about to let a tear slip out at the sight of the piles and piles of lunch boxes and book bags stacked on top of one another…untouched and un-needed…

I spotted A FRIEND.

I saw her kind eyes above her mask and without even greeting her with a “hello.”

I announced to her that I was about to cry.

And she said…

“me too.”

And then another Mom, a stranger near us, overhearing our conversation, turned towards us and said “me too.”

And we stood there in a socially distance triangle.

Friend, friend and stranger…allowing ourselves to feel the feelings and then?

Feel the feeling of encouragement in community.

Oh friends…how I wish we could “pick up where we left off” like we have every other year, and like you do with an old friend you haven’t seen in months…things just flow and feel comfortable….familiar.

But this…this invisible earthquake and the aftershocks are making it hard to even remember where we left off…let alone flow and feel comfortable.

What I do know is that when the invisible earthquake came in March…we DID find our footing.

We DID steady out steps into the the new rhythm of life...hard as it was…we DID it.

“The faithful love of the Lord never ends! His mercies never cease. Great is his faithfulness; his mercies begin afresh each morning.”

Lamentations 3:22-24 NLT

We rose every morning and chose our paths, however different they looked and we made our way through the rocky rubble of the unknown.

And…as we rise and move into our third season of COVID?

We will once again remake our rhythm.

“Routine” may be evasive and hidden right now…but your “rhythm” can be cultivated, found and shaped and shared by every household and every person by every moment we thoughtfully self-select and choose to step it out.

“Routine” while sometimes can be a comforting “order” of things… “rhythm” is more of a individualized choosing of pace.

Less of a reactive routine set in place because of a season and more of a steady responsiveness that offers stability in a season of unknown.

heather krout

If given the choice to go hard and fast or slow and steady.

I will ALWAYS choose slow and steady.

And honestly I think that is what God is trying to teach us in this season of hardship. We were never meant to run ahead, have it all figured out and “handled” with the future tied up in a bow.

We were designed to rely on Him DAILY.

“Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding.”

Proverbs 3:5

While I too love my “comfort creatures” and I’m sharing a few of my Fall favorites below because my middle name is “comfy-cozy”…I also know that I am personally not growing closer to God or closer to the person He created me to be when I am comfortable and have everything figured out that I need to know.

It’s in the choosing of our rhythm and responsiveness to hardship that we are growing into the one and only design He intended us to be.

“We can rejoice, too, when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they help us develop endurance. And endurance develops strength of character, and character strengthens our confident hope of salvation. And this hope will not lead to disappointment. For we know how dearly God loves us, because he has given us the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with his love.”

Romans 5:3-5 NLT

My favorite part of Summer that is hard to let go?

Shell seeking with my daughters.

We are die-hard shell seekers.

The walk to the beach every morning is laced with part caffeine and part eager antiquation of what we will find once we crest the dunes.

In short…mornings at the beach make my heart flutter.

And I love…that they love the seeking as much as I do.

However…every morning is different. The ocean does not subscribe to a neat and tidy routine that offers up the order and the fulfillment of our shell seeking hearts.

There are days when the shore is EMPTY.

There are days when there are no traces of any shell bits whatsoever.

The rhythm of the waves taking the shells out to sea…the answers to our shell desires too far out of reach…hidden.

And then?

There are days when the shells are easy to find strewn along the dry sand in plain view.

And then there are the BEST DAYS when they are THERE but they are hidden just beneath the waters edge…waiting to see if you find them.

These are the days when you spot a treasure underneath the washing water around your knees and you think…

“If the waves would just STOP for a minute…I could see and grab what I am searching for.”

I feel like the same is true with life right now.

Days when answers are so far out of reach…they seem like they will never come.

Days when answers are in plain view and you are feeling better than usual because you can see the map of where to walk.

And then there are days…where I think, If the waves and needs of all the things would just stop…even for a minute..I could SEE clearly what I am searching for…but they just keep coming.

I know friend.

It’s Ok to feel like you just want the waves to stop for even a second so we can catch our breath and see the scene of the landscape of life more clearly.

But…one thing I know…is that when the ocean washes away all that we have come to know and find comfort in…the tide always comes back in.

And when the tide rolls back in and the fresh landscape is set.. the rhythm of the waves form a a new shape..

it is up to me to receive the rhythm and respond in motion towards Him.

If we are willing to seek and find the treasures of truth underneath the new waves the tide washing at our feet …there will be gifts of strength and perseverance to reach down, collect and store inside that will grow us more fully than anything else we are grasping for will…

The rhythm of reliance on the One who commands the seas will shape us into finding the treasure of our truest selves.

And friend because I know you may still need some “back to school” shopping therapy I am throwing these two new purchases your way…because while school shopping has changed…I do love my comfy cozies…and decorating for Fall in my home is definitely something that helps me tap out a new season’s rhythm and I think they may help you too.

I just ordered this Pumpkin Pillow cover for $9.99 from Amazon.

GTEXT Fall Pumpkin Throw Pillow Cover Autumn Decor Watercolor Drawing Pumpkin Pillow Case for Couch Sofa Home Decoration Fall Pillows Linen 18 X 18 Inches

We used these fairy light solar lids that screwed on top of mason jars (I already had) for a little ambiance around the bonfire on the beach and I can’t wait to use them here at home around our patio fire pit while we enjoy those crisp Fall evenings roasting marshmallows.

I want you to know friend that if you are feeling “under construction” or discombobulated…or just out of sorts…you are not alone.

4 Things that are helping me find my rhythm in this new season:

1. Quiet Time before anyone wakes up.
2. Moving my body…walking the dog or going for a run early in the day.
3. Talking to friends honestly about how I am feeling and finding encouragement on the other side of vulnerability. We are in this as a community.
4. Worshipping my God through music, prayer and praise.

Because at the end of the day…while this new season is super trying…

I don’t want to miss a thing that God is trying to teach me along the way…I have a feeling I have a lot to learn.

Father God,

Thank you that you are patient with me when I am dragging my feet into a new rhythm of life.

Thank you that you see me right where I am and love me just the way I am.

Lord please guide my steps into the new beat of this season and help me to seek you when I am feeling like everything familiar has been washed away.

I know your plan is good…help me to reach out and discover the treasures of truth you have waiting for me to learn along the way.

Amen.

Living on a prayer,

Heather